They'd probably just have to fill in the open end with seating (not sure how they'd feel about losing the skyline view) and build a ring of suites around the other 3/4 of the stadium. How many seats would they lose by replacing the bleachers with chairbacks? Because I'd fill in the endzones with purple seats with the 'VIKINGS' insignia.

It's built to take more suites and a third tier around the stadium, and to keep the end open, although if they ever needed more than 80,000 (which is super unlikely) the could add seating in the open end. For the short term of monday night though I would expect to see some bleachers set up in the open end.

My logic is this: which would hurt the MSP area (and the U of M) worse: an inexpensively expanded TCF Stadium with more skyboxes and VIP seats that sees at least 16 football events a year, or losing another major-league franchise to Los Angeles?

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minnesota Vikings executive said Friday that the team is concerned about the safety of the Metrodome after a winter storm caused the building's roof to collapse, but he didn't rule out the team playing there next season.

The Vikings have long pursued a new stadium paid for mostly by taxpayers, and next year is the final year of their lease on the Dome. Vice President Lester Bagley didn't directly address that issue in discussing the outlook for next season.

"We're going to have to dig into that and get an honest assessment of that," Bagley said. "Some people would say, 'Well, a couple of shingles come off the roof you don't build a new barn.' Well, the roof collapsed. We have concerns about the safety of the facility going forward."

Minnesota is dealing with a state budget deficit of more than $6.2 billion that has to be handled first, but Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders have said they're open to a good stadium plan. A state lawmaker plans to introduce a proposal by late January.

Bagley said the Vikings are focused on Monday night's game with the Chicago Bears at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium. The game will mark a return to outdoor football in Minnesota after the Vikings spent the past 29 years in the Dome.

"It's all hands on deck. We've got to get this game off," Bagley said. "The point is it's going to be a great game on 'Monday Night Football.'"

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Friday that the game is on track to be played at TCF Bank Stadium, and there are no plans to move it elsewhere despite major logistical issues. The league sent out an e-mail later in the day touting pro football's return to the outdoors in Minnesota for the first time since 1981.

The storm that wrecked the Metrodome roof dumped more than 17 inches of snow on Minneapolis, and hundreds of workers spent several days removing snow from the university stadium.

By Friday afternoon, most of the snow had been cleared from field and seating areas of the stadium. Officials planned to begin laying a tarp on the artificial turf Friday evening, and would begin pumping warm air under the tarp to keep the field from freezing, said Scott Ellison assistant university athletic director.

Several players have said they're worried about the risk of injury from a frozen field, but university athletics spokesman Garry Bowman said the field would be ready by Monday. He said the field was already soft thanks to the layer of snow that insulated it from the cold.

"The field is in better shape today than it was for the Gophers' last game of the season," Bowman said, referring to the school's Nov. 27 game against Iowa. "Before that Iowa game, we had a lot of freezing and thawing, so we had a lot of ice patches to clear."

Workers were grooming the field Friday, and adding more rubber to the turf to create a better surface for players, Ellison said. The university was also looking at other heating options, including the possibility of using the field's drainage system to heat it from underneath, he said.

"What we're trying to do is get the turf even softer than it is right now," he said.

Snow and cold weren't the only issues at TCF Bank. As configured for Monday night's game, the stadium is expected to hold about 10,000 fewer people than the Metrodome, creating the possibility that some ticketholders could be turned away at the gates Monday. The Vikings are hoping some ticketholders will skip the game because the Vikings are out of playoff contention and because of the cold. Daytime temperatures on Monday are forecast to be in the teens.

Vikings marketing officer Steve LaCroix said early feedback from surveys sent to season ticketholders was that enough people wanted refunds to ensure that there would be room for everyone.

``At this point we can't guarantee that, but again we're feeling very confident that there's going to be no one turned away from the game,'' he said.

Jack Tornquist, who said his family has had season tickets since the Vikings were founded in 1961, was excited about the outdoor game until he found out about the general admission seating. They had eight tickets at the 40-yard line for the game in the Metrodome - $128 each.

Now, they'll be waiting in line to claim a seat somewhere, sitting in the cold for two hours before the game starts and trying to avoid losing their seats by taking a trip for the bathroom or concessions. He said it was a deal-breaker for his 72-year-old mother.

``The Vikings have decided by making things `as fair as possible' to make it virtually impossible for people my parents' age - their most tenured and loyal season ticket holders from whom they've received the most money and still pay for the most expensive seats - to attend this game,'' Tornquist said.

Ellison said some warm locations, including possibly Williams Arena, would be open for fans waiting to line up for the game. Details were still being worked out Friday.

The university would also have extra medical personnel on duty because of the cold, he said.

Bagley said fans should "hang in there with us." The team has offered refunds to ticketholders who want them.

"In a little more than than 48 hours, we had to communicate a ticket plan," Bagley said. "This is what we came up with as the best possible situation."

Meanwhile at the Metrodome, workers in cherry pickers tried to clean snow from the sides of the facility, so they could patch a roof panel that tore open Wednesday, said Darin Broton, spokesman for the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission. The other three panels that initially tore open on Sunday have already been patched.

After the fourth panel is patched, he said, workers would position heat blowers around the collapsed roof and melt the remaining snow and ice, which so far has prevented permanent repairs from getting under way.

__________________
Big Daddy Popeye US Navy/retired

August 1971 - August 1991

I yam what I yam!

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

And the incoming State Senate Majority leader does not care. good for him.

"A lot of people want things," Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, an incoming assistant Senate majority leader, told the Star Tribune. He said the Metrodome's roof collapse "doesn't elevate this to a crisis."

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will be in Minnesota on Monday, and not just to see the big game between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears played on an icy college football field.

Goodell will meet privately with Gov.-elect Mark Dayton and legislative leaders over the Vikings' stalled drive for a new, publicly subsidized stadium to replace the aging Metrodome.

Goodell's meeting with Dayton was scheduled before the Metrodome's inflatable roof collapsed a week ago, but more evidence emerged Friday that the team is trying to use the roof collapse to rally support for a new stadium.

However, Goodell's upcoming visit -- and the Metrodome's continuing problems -- appeared to bring little unanimity to the stadium debate.

In comments to reporters, and again during a radio interview Friday, Vikings spokesman Lester Bagley said the team had "significant concerns" about the Metrodome's safety and that the roof collapse had people around the country wondering about Minnesota's "lack of investment" in its infrastructure.

"Who knows if that facility's going to be safe?" Bagley, the team's vice president for public affairs and stadium development, said of the Metrodome.

Dayton indicated Friday that he would support a new Vikings stadium, provided the benefits to taxpayers outweigh the costs. "As I said throughout my campaign, any new stadium must first benefit the people of Minnesota," he said in a statement.

"If it's 8,000 construction jobs over the next three years," Dayton said, and the tax revenues, Minnesota business contracts and other economic benefits exceed any public costs, "then it is a good deal for the people of Minnesota and I will support it."

There were more indications Friday, however, that the Republicans who are preparing to assume House and Senate majorities in January are uncomfortable with any stadium talk while a $6.2 billion projected deficit looms.

"A lot of people want things," said Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, an incoming assistant Senate majority leader. He said the Metrodome's roof collapse "doesn't elevate this to a crisis."

But, he added, "teams have learned that they can kind of put the public over a barrel and force them to pay for something that otherwise the [teams] themselves would have to pay for."

Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson said city officials remain opposed to any Vikings stadium plan to divert sales tax money now paying for Minneapolis' convention center once that facility's debt is retired. Stadium backers earlier this year made that proposal in a since-scuttled stadium plan.

Johnson also took aim Friday at Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, a strong stadium proponent. Rosen said Thursday she plans to introduce a Vikings stadium bill by the end of January and said the proposal might be "very similar" to the previous plan that included Minneapolis' convention center money.

A new Vikings stadium, said Johnson, should be paid for by the entire state, and not just by Minneapolis or any one local government. "The whole state has to pay something," said Johnson. "You know, in these rural areas, that's the only entertainment on Sundays. There's way more stuff to do here in the city than there is in Sen. Rosen's Fairmont."

Johnson's comments came as another Vikings stadium-related drama unfolded, this time involving the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, the Metrodome's owner.

Mayor R.T. Rybak vetoed the reappointment of Commissioner Paul Thatcher, who had initiated a major public disagreement with the team a year ago.

Citing the state's struggling economy, Thatcher led a push to financially reward the Vikings if the team extended its Metrodome lease while a new stadium solution was found -- and to penalize the team if it did not. At the time, Thatcher said that "no one with a political IQ over 3" believed that a new stadium could be funded during a major economic recession.

In a rare veto, Rybak called Thatcher a "divisive voice" who made the commission less effective "by alienating those who disagree with him and not playing a collaborative role."

The council overrode the veto Friday on an 11-1 vote.

"Thatcher is a very strong advocate for the city of Minneapolis," said Robert Lilligren, a City Council member, adding that Thatcher had helped the city push its goal of keeping the Vikings at the Metrodome site without extra cost to city taxpayers.

While some city officials suggested the veto may have been an attempt by Rybak to gain favor with the Vikings, Thatcher said the mayor's veto message spoke for itself and that Rybak later contacted him and was "warm and generous."

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438 Mike Kaszuba • 651-222-1673

__________________
Big Daddy Popeye US Navy/retired

August 1971 - August 1991

I yam what I yam!

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Repairs on the snow-damaged Metrodome roof will take longer than initially anticipated.

Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission chairman Roy Terwilliger told reporters Wednesday that there is no quick-fix for the tattered teflon roof, and that crews will work through January, at a minimum, until repairs are completed.

I'm surprised nobody has commented now that the Metrodome's days are numbered. The Vikings got legislature approval for a new Stadium, which will be centered slightly east of the current stadium, but covering most of the existing Metrodome as well. A delicate construction dance will begin in 2013 to build the new stadium, but keep the Metrodome long enough to host a couple more Viking seasons before being torn down to complete the new stadium.

Since the Metrodome's days as a viable host for Super Bowls, NCAA final fours, etc. are behind AND the Twins have already moved out while the Vikings are at their lowest level in 30 years... it is safe to assume the Metrodome era will conclude with memories of 2 world series, several MLB divisional championship seasons, a super bowl, two final fours, multiple NCAA regionals, and one very memorable (for all the wrong reasons) NFC championship game. Add to that a few U2 concerts, Metallica, "monsters of rock", the first season of Timberwolves basketball, Gopher baseball, and over 30 years of MN high school football championhips. There was nearly three decades of Gopher NCAA football too, including an epic fourth quarter collapse for the program's most infamous defeat against Michigan in 2003. It was build on a cheap budget and was almost always on the various lists of "worst stadiums". Considering all that... it was a good run.